kbuzz
Well-Known Member
I got a refractometer for Christmas. Was so excited to use it that I calibrated with a bit of bottled water and used it on my first brew day the next day - 12/26. Brewed an Imperial India Brown Ale AG recipe...projected OG was 1.073 and ended up at about 1.076 using the refractometer. Had a pretty sizable yeast starter going for a couple days prior to brewing. On 1/6, I threw in the dry-hops, just assuming it was done fermenting. Took a gravity reading about 6 days ago - 1.040...crap...took another today - 1.040. I chalked it up to the cold basement - temps hang out @ 62 or so. Must have underattenuated despite me using a starter...thought that temps got too cold and that was that. Fermentation just petered out.
Then on a whim, I decided to check the reading with my old hydrometer - low and behold, I got a reading of 1.019...still not great, but better than 1.040. So the next step was to check calibration - both the refractometer and hydrometer gave me a 1.00 reading (after temp conversion for the hydro) for a bit of tap water. What is going on here??? Was my original gravity reading bad too?? No way I missed my targeted OG by .02 - that would be crazy - I've never missed that bad. I'm drinking a glass right now and it's giving me a nice little buzz, so I don't think the ABV is only 5%.
What could be wrong here? Am I an idiot?
Then on a whim, I decided to check the reading with my old hydrometer - low and behold, I got a reading of 1.019...still not great, but better than 1.040. So the next step was to check calibration - both the refractometer and hydrometer gave me a 1.00 reading (after temp conversion for the hydro) for a bit of tap water. What is going on here??? Was my original gravity reading bad too?? No way I missed my targeted OG by .02 - that would be crazy - I've never missed that bad. I'm drinking a glass right now and it's giving me a nice little buzz, so I don't think the ABV is only 5%.
What could be wrong here? Am I an idiot?